Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was a British actor born best known roles Hammer Productions horror films of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Cushing died in 1994 of prostate cancer. Biography Peter Wilton Cushing was born in Kenley, Surrey, England on May 26th, 1913. Along with friend and fellow thespian Christopher Lee, Cushing was a dominant force in the horror genre, specifically during the British "Hammer Horror" era of the 1950s through the 1970s. His first genre film was the 1957 Terence Fisher film The Curse of Frankenstein. Cushing played the lead role of Doctor Victor Frankenstein, a role he would reprise many times over the span of his career. He is also the first actor to play the character under his original name as first envisioned in 1818 by Frankenstein novelist Mary Shelley. This was also Cushing first pairing with Christopher Lee (in a horror film) who played the role of the monster in that film. In that same year, Cushing would go on to play the role of Doctor Rollason in the black and white Hammer film, The Abominable Snowman. Cushing and Lee played opposite one another yet again in, this time taking on roles in another adaptation of a horror classic, Dracula. Cushing played the role of Doctor J. Van Helsing, another classic character whom he would return to in future films, even to the point of playing Van Helsing's modern-day descendent Lorrimer Van Helsing in the 1970s. Following Dracula, Cushing returned to the Frankenstein franchise for its first sequel, The Revenge of Frankenstein, although this time his character's name was condensed to Victor Stein. In 1959, Cushing and Lee joined forces once again, this time in Hammer's remake of the Universal Pictures classic, The Mummy. Note: This film was actually a remake of The Mummy's Hand with Lon Chaney, Jr., not the first film starring Boris Karloff. Although The Mummy spawned two semi-sequels, the 1959 film was the only one that featured Peter Cushing. He was slated to appear in the 1971 film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, but declined in lieu of the recent death of his wife, Violet Helen Beck. Throughout the 1960s, Cushing leap-frogged between franchises, playing Van Helsing in one film, then Baron Frankenstein in another and back again. By the 1970s, Hammer Horror was beginning to lose its popularity, but they still managed to produce one last Frankenstein film and three more Dracula films. Peter Cushing's final genre role was in the horror-comedy film House of the Long Shadows produced in 1983. This was his last role with friend Christopher Lee and the film also included cult luminaries such as Vincent Price and John Carradine. Outside of the horror genre, Cushing is also known for playing the role of the indefatigable Sherlock Holmes in several films in the 1960s. His most widely recognized role however, was that of the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin from the 1977 sci-fi mega-hit Star Wars. In Star Wars, Cushing's character was the supervisor of the evil Darth Vader, played by British bodybuilder David Prowse. Ironically, Cushing and Prowse played characters of a similar dynamic only three years earlier in the last Frankenstein film for Hammer Film Productions, 1974's Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. Peter Cushing died of prostate cancer in Canterbury, England on August 11th, 1994 aged 81. Horror fimography Notes Although The Curse of Frankenstein was his first horror film with friend Christopher Lee, their actual first film together was in the 1948 version of Hamlet in which he played the role of Osric. Hamlet also starred veteran actor Sir Alec Guinness. Cushing, Lee and Guinness would all go on to play important characters in the Star Wars mythos (Obi Wan Kenobi, Grand Moff Tarking and Count Dooku respectively). External Links * Peter Cushing at Wikipedia * Peter Cushing film poster site * Peter Cushing at House of Horrors * Peter Cushing at All Movie Guide (AMG) * Peter Cushing at the Peter Cushing Shrine * Peter Cushing at Hammer House of Horror fan site * Peter Cushing at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) Category:1913 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Actors Category:English actors Category:Deceased actors